Whango!

By Stefan Kanfer

NEEDFUL THINGS

By Stephen King

Viking; 690 pages; $24.95

Right now it's October, and in The Rock we let October stay just as long as she wants to." The man who opens Stephen King's Needful Things talks like that. He's kind of a stage manager, getting the props and the people in order. Kind of like the narrator in Our Town. 'Course you know when King gets folksy it's his way of lulling you before he sets off a firecracker -- Whango! -- right in your ear. This time his explosive is one of them mysterious strangers who sneaks into Castle Rock, Maine, scene of two other King features, Cujo and The Dead Zone. This stranger is called Leland Gaunt, and he's proprietor of the new Needful Things curiosity shop. First customer: 11-year-old Brian Rusk. The item: an autographed Sandy Koufax baseball card. The price: his soul. Whango!

Well, you wouldn't recognize the Rock once Gaunt sinks his teeth into it. The quiet little town where people drive Yugos and natter about Demi Moore turns into one hell of a burg. That's because the residents just can't stay away from needful things, buying stuff like folk medicine that mysteriously cures pain and cars that drive on no gas at all and just about anything else that can tempt greedy souls to trade away their most precious possession.

Fortunately, there are still people with sales resistance. Sheriff Alan Pangborn is the one to watch here. He's capable of doing anything, even blowing up the town. The author puts a promise underneath Needful Things. He calls this "The Last Castle Rock Story." Not to give the whole show away or anything, but King isn't a man to exaggerate. Not about his talent or his subtitles.